Reeds fourth eleven continued their 2010 league campaign with another strong win in spite of horrendous conditions. Play started during a small spell when the weather held off but soon drizzle fell and remained over the Freeman College pitch. Reed’s captain Peter Baker won the toss and decided to bat first against the Wormely visitors. Showing resilience and supreme skill the opening pair of P. Baker and Paul Garrott made the best possible start for Reed finding no trouble in making runs, forcing the opposing captain to frequently rotate his bowlers. It was clear to see that Wormely did not want to keep on playing but the relentless drizzle did not get too heavy for play to stop and so the young side persisted, but it is in this disheartened mood that mistakes are made in the field and much to their annoyance there were many. P. Baker pipped P. Garrott to a half century as the pair went pass the hundred. They had smashed the previous first wicket stand when P. Baker was run out by S. Tutin off his own bowling for 72 with the score on 142. Baker was then replaced by his son Marcus J.E. Baker who picked up where his father left off and made runs easily. Garrott made a partnership of 71 with the younger Baker as the pair went pass the 200 mark and most importantly bought up his maiden century safe in the knowledge that he had taken Reed to a very strong score. The declaration came after 36 overs with Reed on 213 for 1, P. Garrott 100 not out and M.J.E. Baker 37 not out. Wormely were put on the back foot straight away when [...]

Reed get their league campaign back on track with a fantastic all round performance, playing away to Waltham Cross Rosedale. The track was not holding any secrets being that it was an artificial one and having lost the toss Reed were asked to bat. Reed lost an early wicket but Reed captain Paul Garrott (21) and John Kershaw put runs on the board until Garrott was bowled, followed by Tom Trimble (3) who also found trouble in Williams (22-4-96-6). Meanwhile, Kershaw continued to make runs, punishing the short ball by pulling it down the slope to the boundary. Kershaw eventually fell to J. Patel (16-4-49-3) caught behind for a fantastic 63. However, despite Kershaw’s efforts Reed were still only on 89 for 4 with 23 overs still to be faced. Marcus J.E. Baker took over and began to work with the tale trying to use up as many overs as possible whilst still trying to keep the score board ticking over. He found support in Ian Roberts (19) and Nick Green (26*) with whom he broke the existing ninth wicket partnership, but Baker eventually was also out caught behind one shy of his half century. The score was now the more comfortable 173 as Green was joined by Christian Martin (7*) both of whom did well to protect their wickets as they saw off the remaining overs as Reed finished their 47 overs on 203 for 9. In reply Reed did not get the first wicket until the score was on 31, the call for a second run proved fatal to Brand (6) as he was run out by Paul Garrott. The second fell soon after with a ‘clean’ stumping by M.J.E. Baker from the [...]

Needing the full 30 points for a win, Captain Peter Baker decided to insert Welwyn banking on his experienced batsman to overhaul any total the visitors posted. That strategy almost came-off as Reed did manage to level the scores only to be thwarted by being unable to score the winning run from the last ball of the match. It had started badly with a last minute withdrawal meaning Reed went into the game with ten players and within minutes went down to nine when they lost opening bowler, Will Kirby, with a leg injury. Captain Baker finished the over and continued to bowl a further eleven overs to finish with 1 for 37. WGC never took control but were able to bat their full allotment of 47 overs to close their innings on 214 for 8. Ian Roberts took 4 for 39, Christian Martin 2 for 59 and Dominick McOmish 1 for 69. Reed’s opening pair of Paul Garrott and Peter Baker posted another century partnership at a steady 4.5 runs per over but both they and the number 3 went within 4 overs of each other. Reed then needed 105 from the remaining 18 overs and that they reached 214 was largely due to John Heslam’s well-timed 35, the support he got from Dom McOmish, (18), then the wily stroke placing of Ian Roberts who was 32 not out at the end. Although the scores were levelled, and Reed had lost fewer wickets, WGC earned 17 points from the match and Reed only 8 thanks to the quirky points scoring system used in the Herts League. That one extra (winning) run to Reed would have been worth another 22 points. With two matches remaining, [...]

Match report to follow

Reed returned to winnings ways this week with a comprehensive victory over Shenley Village. After the miserable weather of last week and the draw the week before that, Reed were anxious to get their campaign back on track. Reed won the toss and bowled first, Chris West (7-1-26-2) took the first wicket with C. Kelly playing on, the ball gently rolling back on to his stumps. He soon took the second thanks to a good catch down the leg side by keeper Marcus J.E. Baker. Their number 3 W. Burr (39) then made a partnership with A. Smith (19), Burr hitting anything short straight to the boundary. Reed captain Peter Baker then changed the tempo with first change bowler Ben Bowles whose gentle action took pace off the ball. Burr could not figure out how to play Bowles and was soon caught by George Garrott in the gully. Garrott was also a first change bowler and accounted for Smith, unsettling him with the short ball and then taking out his off stump with the next ball. Garrott finished with figures of 2 for 10 from 7 as well as taking a second catch in the gully. Meanwhile, Bowles continued to confuse the Shenley order finishing with fantastic figures of 4 for 37 from 10. Alan Ward (3.3-2-1-2) chipped in as did Paul Garrott and John Kershaw with some superb catches to limit Shenley to 112 all out from 35 overs. Reed chased down the target with ease losing only G. Garrott (4) whilst his father Paul took his league average to 199 scoring 44 not out, with John Kershaw scoring 47 not out. This 9 wicket victory now takes Reed into second place in division [...]

Reed had to leave their away fixture against Sawbridgeworth with a frustrating draw in a game in which Reed had shown complete dominance, but were unable to pick off the two remaining wickets they needed for a win. With Peter Baker out with his broken thumb the job of captain went to all rounder Alan Ward, who won the toss and elected to bat first. Reed’s in form batsman Paul Garrott once again got Reed off to a good start and made a partnership of 77 with John Kershaw before falling for 34. Kershaw then made another partnership with George Garrott both of whom played impressive innings, keeping out the good balls and punishing the bad balls by sending them to boundary. Both made half centuries, Kershaw 50 and the younger Garrott 62. In the dying overs Lewis Fitzgerald and Marcus J.E. Baker added to the large total, Baker 25 and Fitzgerald 37 not out. Ward declared at 259 for 5 from 43 overs. The hosting captain looked liked he fancied his chances at chasing down the total as he made some early runs. But he was put on the back foot when his opening partner Fisher was caught down the leg side by keeper M.J.E. Baker for naught from the bowling of James Hooper (9-1-44-1). The second wicket came about when having struck the ball firmly to mid off, captain Freeman called yes for the most unlikely single as Christian Martin threw the ball Freddie Flintoff style to run out Moorleg. His brother Rupert then had Vijay LBW which was the first of four fantastic wickets including that of Freeman (48), the Sawbo order unable to combat his in-swing, he finished with figures of [...]

Match report to follow

Match report to follow

Reed still required one more win in their final game of the season to have any chance at gaining promotion, but facing fellow promotion chasers Potters Bar it would not be any easy task. Potters Bar won the toss and chose once again to bat first. Opener Breeze (4) obviously had his mind on something else as he chopped one from Lewis Fitzgerald onto his stumps giving Reed the early advantage. Fitzgerald doubled the dose as he bowled number 3 Tipmuss for only 2 putting Reed on top. James Hooper (6-0-11-1) replaced Fitzgerald, who had finished his 7 overs with 2 for 18, put added pressure on Potters Bar by taking a third wicket. George Garrott then came on and bowled a fantastic spell which took care of the middle order finishing with 4 for 7 from his seven overs. Christian Martin (12-2-30-1) had held down the other end before being replaced by Ian Roberts (7.3-0-20-2) who bowled his first victim and took the final wicket thanks to keeper Marcus J.E. Baker who took the only catch of the innings. Potters Bar were left in tatters bowled all out for only 97.Reeds response had started off sensibly until a suicidal call for a single caught Reeds prolific runs scorer Paul Garrott short of the crease, which started a collapse as the pressure of the occasion got to Reed. Finding his side at 26 for 4 and momentum with the opposition, M.J.E. Baker went out to join George Garrott at the crease. The pair started the innings again and took their time to get used to both the bowling and the bounce of the track which was keeping a lot lower than usual. Baker started to [...]

Match report to follow